Women's Lightweight Crew

MIT Lightweight Women Capture Varsity Four

Apr 26, 2007

April 26, 2007

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The MIT lightweight women's squad continued its streak of victories this past Saturday with a triumph in the varsity four event, which was raced against Radcliffe College on the Charles River.

The day got off to an early start with the varsity eight event at 7:48 a.m., when racing occurred in near perfect conditions on the Charles - flat water and plenty of sun. In the opening event, Radcliffe established a lead by the 1,000 meter mark, with MIT's varsity eight in second-place, leading the Radcliffe 2V. Radcliffe's varsity squad secured first-place with a time of 7:25.60, while MIT placed second (7:43.9) and the Radcliffe 2V grabbed third (7:52.2).

Shortly after the eight race, the varsity fours took to the water for a 9:00 a.m. start. MIT had a solid race and took a commanding lead with 500 meters to go, coming in with a time of 8:27.70, followed by Radcliffe at 8:48.20.

Varsity head coach Irene Jenkins was pleased with the morning's results.

"The results today show that our program is continuing to improve from last year," she said. "I believe that as long as we add depth to the program each year, our improvement will continue."

In the novice event, MIT's novice lightweight four got off to a rough start, falling behind Radcliffe in the first 1,000 meters of the race. However, the crew fought hard and came back in the second 1,000 meters to finish with a time of 8:50.30 to Radcliffe's 8:45.80.

Novice coach Claire Kostrzewski said that she was "happy with the way the crew stayed determined through the race and was able to have a solid performance in the end."

In the novice eight event, Radcliffe dominated from the start and MIT was unable to find a response. The Radcliffe eight finished with a time of 7:13.80 and remained undefeated on the season. The Cardinal and Gray will see Radcliffe again at Eastern Sprints on Sunday, May 13.

Tech's second lightweight eight raced later in the day in a scrimmage against the MIT openweight novice eight and the Yale novice eight. The crew got off to a solid start, holding ground for the first 500 meters with the MIT openweight eight. However, after 500 meters, they began to fall off the pace and ended up coming in third to Yale and the MIT openweight crew. The MIT lightweights came across the line in 8:11.50 to Yale's 7:19.90 and MIT openweight's 7:50.90.

Kostrzewski commented that she was "pleased with the team's performance as a crew, and [knows] that they will continue to improve in the next few weeks."

The MIT lightweight women's squad's next race is Eastern Sprints, which take place in Cherry Hill, N.J. on Sunday, May 13.